Saturday, November 8, 2008

A Day In The Life

It's 6am. On the dot. Which means they have been awake for at least 10 minutes. (Jack likes to "take care of business" first thing in the morning!) I can hear one of them coming and they haven't even crossed the threshold of my room yet. I pretend I am not awake yet. The oldest one leans down close to my face and with the worst possible morning breath says "Mom"... "Mommy"... "MOM"!! Finally, with my eyes still closed, I answered the child. He wants to know if they can turn on the TV in the playroom. Not wanting to get up yet I told him they could.

Later, though at this time I don't know how much later, I hear more footsteps coming. This time it's the middle child. He comes close to me also and says "Mom... we're hungry. Can you feed us now?" Still with eyes closed I said okay. He walks around to hubby's side of the bed and climbs in. We all have a quick snuggle and then I proceed to the kitchen.

Great! No coffee. Both of us forgot to make the pot last night. Okay. Coffee first, kids second. I know. Great parenting. The kids ask for waffles and I can do that since all I need to do is stick them in oven. It's now 7:10am and I call Jack downstairs to eat. One set of waffles with butter only, the other no butter and syrup in a bowl for dipping.

Ahhh, coffee is now ready. And in goes the new flavor-Caramel Apple!! Nice... I can feel myself waking up now. Realizing that the husband is still in the bed watching news I go and remind him if he needs a shower he better go get it now. Middle child overhears that husband is getting in shower and comes running to get in too. Even though he got a bath last night.

Littlest child is now awake and calling for me to come and get her. I go in her room and sing the goodmorning song to her. I find her something to wear and put on her glasses and send her into the kitchen for her breakfast too. Monkey needs a banana? Okay, you can have one I say.

Now I go to make the bed. I can NOT leave the house feeling good without all the beds being made. I know. I curse my mother every time I have to make it. Get myself dressed quickly, brush my teeth. Holler to the kids to come and brush theirs too.

Frank begins to gather the kids to put them into the car. It's now 8am and we have to be at the Sports Park at 815am. Not gonna happen. It's an almost 30 minute drive from our house. I gather everything and make 2 trips to the car to get it all in. Okay, coffee in hand and off we go.

Ten minutes into the drive, Frank says he forgot to put the chairs in the truck. "How many chairs did you forget?" I ask. He replies, "All of them". Snap!! I don't make a big deal about it because I am remembering my Love Dares! And I now conveniently keep the HDT in my pocket at all times.

We finally make it to the Sports Park. It's now 845 am. Only missed 30 minutes of practice. Game starts at 9:00. I am grateful that it is Wyatt's last game. Having to be out there at 815 every Saturday morning kind of puts a damper on things, you know? Thankfully, our field this time is right by the bleachers. Chairs not necessary after all. Glad I kept my mouth shut. Jackson finds his friends and they have brought light sabers to the game so they all begin to sword fight. Typical.

Mallory is now going up and down the bleachers. Frank has abandoned me to go talk about his trip to the guys. "Okay" I tell Mallory. "You must stop running on the bleachers". So she opts for a snack instead and comes and sits down next to me. Game on. We begin to cheer for Wyatt. Really my cheering is just instructions for him to follow. Sometimes he gets sidetracked and instead of chasing the soccer ball, he just chases his friends.

We are 2 potty breaks into the game and I am still wondering when Frank is coming back over here. Oh, wait. I see him. Yep. Still talking away. Oh, well. Game is over now and Frank comes over to take the snacks to the team. It was our turn. Coach C passes out their stars and we can finally go.

Back into the car we go. Five minutes into the ride I ask Frank if he remembered to grab Wyatt's other shoes. He didn't know he was supposed to and ran down our conversation about who was supposed to grab them. Apparently it was me. Fabulous. Now Wyatt has no shoes. After a quick stop to get the dogs some food we head to my mom's house.

I get Wyatt's clothes changed and the birthday gift wrapped and we load up into the car again. We go to 3 places before I find Wyatt some shoes I am willing to pay for. And he didn't even need any! I drop Frank and Wyatt off at the party and take the other 2 with me to go find them some shoes. They are both down to about 1 pair a piece that either need to be replaced or are going to be outgrown in about... now.

First stop. Everybody out. We look in the store for shoes. Jackpot. I found the kind of shoes I have been looking for. Sadly, her size is gone. Jackson is now complaining because I say NO to every pair so shoes he picks up and insists he must have. More complaining when I tell him we have to go to another store.

Next store, same story. Ugh. Now we'll try the mall. Children are now begging for food so I decide maybe we should do that first. We eat and then I drag them to the 3rd store. Certain that they would have what I was looking for I made them go up the escalator and all the way to the other end of the store. Good grief. Nothing. Back downstairs and on to try another store.

Fourth store. Nothing. Glance down at my watch and realize that we really have to go. Frank mentioned that they didn't have to stay at the party the whole time so I wanted to get there early. Besides, the kids need to get down for a nap early and the Ga. game starts at 1230. So, we load up in the car again.

Make it back to the party and I call Franks cell to let him know we are waiting outside. No answer. Wait a few minutes and call him again. Still no answer. I send him a text. Still no answer. My aggravation level is beginning to rise. Now I am doing the repeat calling. Almost 30 minutes has gone by and now I tell Jackson to lock the doors and I am going to get his father (note I said father and not daddy) and his brother. I walk in and look in the arcade. Not there. I walk to the party rooms. Hmmm. Not there either. I finally find a competent employee and ask where that particular party has gone. To the race track.

I get in the car and drive over there. I see Frank and Wyatt going around in the "race car" and wait some more. It has now been 40 minutes since I pulled in the parking lot and the natives are getting restless. I get Franks attention and have to drive back to the entrance. Frank brings out a screaming Wyatt. He wasn't ready to go. Frank informs me that the screaming child would not eat his hotdog for lunch and instead... ate cake. Lovely, I said.

Back over to my parents house to put the little kids down for a nap. The game has already started, by the way. So far, we are ahead by 1 touchdown. Get the kids in their beds and settle in to watch the game. The game is going well and my mom asks if I found the shoes I was looking for. I told her no so she suggested that we go look while we have a little time. Since I am not one to turn shopping down, she and I headed out.

First store we go to we did find some that I liked for Mallory, but not loved. So we kept looking. At the next store, my mom points out some cute shirts. I start looking through the racks too. Pulling out several things I go try them on. Liked a lot of them. Reminded mom this is not what we came for. Begin looking for shoes again. Nothing. On the way back to the other store, I spotted some ultra cute Christmas pillows for my rocking chairs on the front porch. Mom says to grab all 4 of them. Never argue with your mother.

Go up to the register. Lady gives me a total. Mom buys it all. Sweet!! Go back to the original store. Get the shoes and head to the bank. Hit the ATM machine for husband. Mom breaks a nail and is not happy. I notice that there is a strange noise coming from the car. We get out at her house and I look under it. Seems as though some cover from the bottom of the car has fallen down. She is not happy. Just glad it wasn't due to something I did. Better yet, that the kids didn't do it.

I check the game quickly. Dadgum. Behind by 3. Run upstairs and get Mallory up. Get her dressed again and put carseat in dad's car. Frank, Jackson, and Wyatt leave to go see Madagascar2. I put Mallory in car to go to another birthday party. On the way I am listening to the game and we rushed for about 72 yards. My screaming scared Mallory.

Get out of car and calm child down. Go into the playground for the party. Yes, friend is there with headphones on listening to the game. She willingly shares one with me. Both of us are hollering at the same time and not paying attention to the kids. I know. Another example of great parenting. Now, C and I are jumping up and down screaming. VICTORY!!! Go DAWGS!!

The party was nice. And short. By 440pm I am back in car AGAIN and headed back to my parents. Mallory and I play for a while and the boys came back. Movie was great they said. Kids head outside to play while we start watching the Alabama/LSU game. Go in kitchen to help mom with dinner. Dad fires up the grill and throws on the steaks.

No one can cook a steak like my dad. Yummy! Dinner over and we head back into the den to finish up the game. It's good too. Overtime. We are cheering. So are the kids and they don't even really know why. ROLL TIDE! Sorry if you are LSU fan. I just can't make myself cheer for them. My BIL loves LSU. I think that's why I.just.can't.do.it.

Game over. Time to load up again. Ahhh... kids in bed. Dishes put away. PJ's on and climb into bed. Time to go to Bloggyland....

What a day.. I am impressed you get all that done in one day and very little meltdowns... Way to go Mamma Ashley...By the way I would have been loosing it a little waiting in the car that long.. Very impressed with your reactions, love dares are working....

Stop and Think

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”I Corinthians 1:26-27

Come ON... Don't Leave Me Hanging!

Look Who Stopped By!!!

About the Ringmaster

I'm a wife to my amazing hubby and mother, chauffeur, cook, referee, nurse, judge and housekeeper to my three adorable children.
Did I mention 2 dogs along with 7 horses? Maybe 3 rings are just not enough!! Thankfully I have a wonderful Father that wrote an amazing Book to help me learn what it takes to keep the show going! So stay tuned in. I'm sure there will be tears and tantrums, smiles and belly laughs. Never a dull moment. Cause under our Big Top...the show must go on!!!